Tax hike: President Hollande has been forced to drop his temporary levy of 75 per cent on incomes over £845,000

Taxes on the rich imposed by Socialist president Francois Hollande meant more than 8,000 French households had tax bills that exceeded their income last year.

It is thought the exceptionally high level of taxation was due to a one-off levy last year on the previous year's incomes for households with assets of more than 1.3million euros (£1.1million).

It comes after Mr Hollande implemented a temporary 75 per cent tax on earnings over 1million euros (£845,000), aimed at offsetting the cost of a rebate scheme imposed by his right-wing predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, which capped overall taxation at 50 per cent of personal total income.

French business newspaper Les Echos said Finance Ministry data showed in total nearly 12,000 households paid taxes worth more than 75 per cent of their 2011 income due to the levy.

Mr Hollande's implementation of the tax has been judged unfair by the Constitutional Council, meaning it has recently been hastily rehashed to target companies rather than individuals.

Since then, a top administrative court has determined that a marginal tax rate higher than 66.66 percent on a single household risks being considered as confiscatory.

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The controversial tax changes have
driven a number of high-profile millionaires out of the country,
including actor Gerard Depardieu, who has been vocal about his distaste
for the scheme and publically announced his move to Russia to avoid it.

Other
high-profile departures include Europe's richest man, Bernard Arnault,
who is believed to have applied for residency in Belgium, and optician chain tycoon Alain Afflelou -
who has an estimated £190million fortune - who said he was moving
to Britain to pay less tax.

Leaving France: Actor Gerard Depardieu (left) has been granted Russian citizenship by President Putin (right) to avoid the tax rise